Marquise Goodwin having a career year for 49ers

Marquise Goodwin is used in a such a way that big things happen for the 49ers offense when he hauls in passes.

At 21.7 yards per catch, he leads the NFL and is comfortably ahead of Colts speedster T.Y. Hilton, who’s second at 20.1. Goodwin’s 500 yards receiving is already a career high and there are six games remaining after the coming bye week.

Goodwin will be pivotal for coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense that’s fielding a make-shift receiving corps dismantled by injuries through the first 10 games of the season.

New general manager John Lynch and Shanahan signed Goodwin and Pierre Garçon in the offseason to provide structure at the position while rebuilding the roster. With Garçon on injured reserve dealing with a non-displaced fracture in his neck, Goodwin is now the team’s most established wideout.

Goodwin will be playing with a heavy heart. News broke after Sunday’s win that he and his wife, Morgan, lost their newborn son that morning to complications during pregnancy.

Heartbreak didn’t stop Goodwin from making his mark. He reeled in a momentous and emotional 83-yard touchdown catch from rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard in the second quarter.

“He was struggling with it for obvious reasons,” Shanahan said Monday. “He decided to play, which we were very grateful for. I think he did a hell of a job for his wife yesterday being there for her and helped out his family from that aspect, and also helped out his family here too. I think he helped out every side and was pretty impressive yesterday.”

The 49ers are depending on mostly inexperienced and unproven receivers to round out the group with Garçon out and rookie Trent Taylor recovering from a cracked rib.

Veteran Louis Murphy, signed Nov. 6, played 44 percent of the snaps Sunday and reeled in two receptions for 48 yards. Undrafted free agent Kendrick Bourne played nearly half the snaps against New York and caught five passes for 81 yards over the past two games – and a few converted third downs.

“Making those third downs, that keeps you on the field. We were able to be our most balanced this whole year in this game yesterday,” said Shanahan. “I thought just from a system standpoint, we were able to run our offense the best.”

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